Friday, April 08, 2011

Incident Report

Two kayakers were rescued by Redcar RNLI after the pair began drifting towards rocks when one lost a paddle and the second tried to help.

One of the kayakers used a mobile phone to dial 999 to raise the alarm and Humber Coastguard tasked the Redcar RNLI lifeboat to go to their assistance. The two men, both from Redcar, were picked up within two minutes of the lifeboat launching and returned to the beach unharmed.

Dave Cocks from Redcar RNLI said: 'The two were fishing off Redcar when it appears that one of the kayakers either lost or damaged his paddle. The other went to assist but they both found themselves drifting towards the rocks. The seas weren't very rough but they were concerned for their own safety so they did the right thing by calling for help.

'They were equipped with life jackets and we're always pleased to see that when we get alongside.

'The advice is to take a marine VHF radio when anybody goes to sea. A mobile phone may not always get a signal and the coastguard can direction-find a VHF radio signal.

'We had an incident a few weeks ago when another kayaker tried to use his mobile phone to raise the alarm and it became waterlogged. Fortunately on that occasion he was spotted from the shore and the alarm was raised.'